UHS nearly doubles state graduation rate for students with disabilities

The Mississippi Department of Education released on Feb. 15 the high school graduation rates for the 2016-17 school year, which show that the state’s graduation rate has reached an all-time high of 83 percent. Mississippi’s rate is just one point shy of the national graduation rate of 84 percent.

The graduation rate for students with disabilities also increased, to 36.4 percent from 34.7 percent the previous school year, but Union Public School District had the fourth highest graduation rate in the state for its 10 students with disabilities over the four-year period at 70 percent. The only districts ranked higher than UPSD in this category were Pearl Public School District (73.9 percent), Monroe County School District (73.3 percent) and Lawrence County School District (71.4 percent).

The UPSD graduation rate for students with disabilities was much higher than the state average of 36.4 percent.

Once again, Newton County School District had the highest graduation rate in the county with a four-year graduation rate of 85.9 percent. NCSD had 156 students over the four-year period and a 5.8 percent dropout rate.

Union Public School District had a rate of 82.8 percent for the four-year student count of 69. UPSD had a dropout rate of 14.5 percent.

Newton Municipal School District had a rate of 77.6 percent for 67 four-year students, and a 17.9 percent dropout rate.

NCSD had a graduation rate of 46.2 percent for students for its 13 students with disabilities.

NMSD did not have any students with disabilities over the four-year period.

In the other graduation rates for subgroups, NCSD’s white students had a graduation rate of 88.7 percent, while black students had a rate of 77.8 percent. NCSD’s female students had a graduation rate of 91.5 percent while male students had a rate of 81.2 percent.

For UPSD, white students had a graduation rate of 82 percent while black students had a rate of 84.2 percent. UPSD’s female students had a graduation rate of 92.9 percent, while the male students had a rate of 75.6 percent.

Sixty-two of NMSD’s 67 students over the four-year period were black and there were not enough students of other races in the district to gather data. The female NMSD students had a graduation rate of 88.9 percent, while the male students had a rate of 70 percent.

The drop-out rate dipped for the fourth consecutive year to 10.6 percent from 13.9 percent in 2014 percent as school districts worked to help students to stay in school.